Lofts on irons

[Swinglowandslow]

Not bothered but if I had a “7” that went 225 I would be very happy.

Not as happy as me?

 

[Voyager EMH]

Thanks everyone. Some great comments and a good mix of humorous and serious. It s usually at about this point that threads start to go off at tangents. I tried not to advocate either way in the original post - merely wanted to see what others thought. I see some bags with no iron bigger than a five iron - so only 5 clubs with the single digit only and no loft number. Perhaps another thought - Who would not bother to look at the lofts when considering a purchase of some new irons? Mavrik lofts appear to be one-club-out-of-kilter to me.

 

[Hammertoe]

I play Cleveland Irons and they have both stamped on them, I quite like it, bit of a talking point if nothing else. I'm nearly sure Lee Westwood rights his distances on his irons, that may be a better idea than numbers/lofts. A 7 iron now isn't what a 7 iron used to be anyway

 

[Orikoru]

Thanks everyone. Some great comments and a good mix of humorous and serious. It s usually at about this point that threads start to go off at tangents. I tried not to advocate either way in the original post - merely wanted to see what others thought. I see some bags with no iron bigger than a five iron - so only 5 clubs with the single digit only and no loft number. Perhaps another thought - Who would not bother to look at the lofts when considering a purchase of some new irons? Mavrik lofts appear to be one-club-out-of-kilter to me.

It annoys me that lofts are so strong on irons nowadays - and I haven't even been playing that long comparatively. But from my irons I couldn't hit the 5 or the 6 iron, they are 23 and 26 degrees though, so in old money a 4 and a 5, or even older money a 3 and a 4. Less surprising I can't hit them when you look at it that way. At the other end, my PW is 44 so I've had to add another wedge - effectively have two pitching wedges which is silly really. In name only, I technically have only three irons and five wedges!

Next irons I get I hope to have softer lofts so I can reintroduce a 6 iron and lose one of the wedges. It would not bother me if I don't hit my "7" as far as my old "7", I'll just be happier that my set of clubs looks more sensible.

 

[clubchamp98]

Not as happy as me?

I would change my name to Bryson.
My monogrammed PJs wouldn’t need changing either.

 

[Canary Kid]

Personally, I like the idea of lofts, not numbers ... or both. I have two sets of clubs and the lofts of the irons are significantly different in each ... so having the loft on the club would be helpful.

 

[USER1999]

I have 3 sets of irons. (used to have 9) but I only ever buy irons with similar lofts. Anything with silly lofts is instantly ignored.

 

[Robster59]

I play in the winter with Mafli Revolution Midsize irons and over the rest of the year with Callaway XR irons. Totally different lofts on the irons.
As an example the 7 Iron on my Maxfli is 35° whilst on my Callaway it's 30°. That's a substantial difference.

Perhaps we could all just take on what Lee Westwood does with his irons.

 

[USER1999]

I could just write 203 on my 5i?

 

[Voyager EMH]

Looking for a suitable marker pen right now. Sadly, it will be 168 (carry distance) on my five-iron (ping i10). I don't know what the loft is. But not bad for a senior. (Happy face) The number will, no doubt, only decrease as the years go by. (Sad face)

 

[Orikoru]

Looking for a suitable marker pen right now. Sadly, it will be 168 (carry distance) on my five-iron (ping i10). I don't know what the loft is. But not bad for a senior. (Happy face) The number will, no doubt, only decrease as the years go by. (Sad face)

https://www.2ndswing.com/ping/golf-irons-and-iron-sets/i10/ (click Specs)

 

[USER1999]

Looking for a suitable marker pen right now. Sadly, it will be 168 (carry distance) on my five-iron (ping i10). I don't know what the loft is. But not bad for a senior. (Happy face) The number will, no doubt, only decrease as the years go by. (Sad face)

You might not want to go too indelible then! Better get a white board marker.

 

[Voyager EMH]

https://www.2ndswing.com/ping/golf-irons-and-iron-sets/i10/ (click Specs)

Thanks. I think I might have seen the specs when I bought them. But, of course, I don't remember (old person). You've given me the option of writing the lofts on - so thanks again.

 

[woofers]

Interesting idea, although it appears to be a general ‘no’ from the posts so far, albeit there is little mention that wedges tend to have the lofts stamped on them, so a bit of a mixed message.
My Ping hybrids have both the loft and a number on them.
Although the discussion has been about personal preference / benefit, which is correct, another benefit of replacing numbers with lofts would be a reduction in the macho / billy big bollocks statements “I only hit a X iron” and incredulous statements from social media, TV commentators and posters regarding club number and yardage. ?

 

[greenone]

Don't see the point. I don't think about lofts I think about clubs (52 is gw, 56 is sw 60 is lw). Also if your clubs are bent to adjust the lofts the stamping would be wrong anyway.

 

[RichA]

At 36°, my current 7-iron is lofted between the modern equivalent club's 8 and 9-irons and the same as the player's 8-iron in power-loft spec.
To avoid confusion, I could write "50-160" on the backs of most of my irons.

 

[GB72]

Not sure I see the point as once you add the position of weighting etc then having the same loft is no more a guarantee of similar performance than having a simple number. I am no expert in this and may be totally wrong but I am guessing that once you change the position of the weight on a club, 2 clubs of the same loft could perform in totally different ways (in fact I always thought that the current cranked lofts were not to trick you into thinking you were hitting a 7 iron when it was really a 5 iron but rather because of the way that the clubs were designed and weighted to help you get the ball in the air, traditional lofts would have sent the ball in to orbit). I liked the old idea of clubs having names.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Interesting idea, although it appears to be a general ‘no’ from the posts so far, albeit there is little mention that wedges tend to have the lofts stamped on them, so a bit of a mixed message.
My Ping hybrids have both the loft and a number on them.
Although the discussion has been about personal preference / benefit, which is correct, another benefit of replacing numbers with lofts would be a reduction in the macho / billy big bollocks statements “I only hit a X iron” and incredulous statements from social media, TV commentators and posters regarding club number and yardage. ?

If all wedges were marked PW, GW, SW and LW then I’d be happy enough with that.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

loft...is that what I'm supposed to be using to get the ball off the ground...? TBH I change the 'strike' loft of all my irons almost every shot depending upon the shot I feel that I want to hit - or due to the inconsistency of my swing.

 

[woofers]

A respected coach down here told me what loft was anyway......”lack of flipping talent”
(he may have used another word in place of flipping)